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60-557: EDGE was deployed on GSM networks beginning in 2003 – initially by Cingular (now AT&T ) in the United States. Through the introduction of sophisticated methods of coding and transmitting data, EDGE delivers higher bit-rates per radio channel, resulting in a threefold increase in capacity and performance compared with an ordinary GSM/GPRS connection - originally a max speed of 384 kbit/s. EDGE can be used for any packet switched application, such as an Internet connection. EDGE

120-513: A GSM-1900 network prior to the acquisition of AT&T Wireless , through a joint venture known as GSM Facilities . The network sharing agreement allowed Cingular to offer local service in northern New Jersey and New York City and T-Mobile USA to offer service in California and Nevada. On May 25, 2004, Cingular and T-Mobile USA announced their intention to dissolve the agreement contingent on Cingular's successful acquisition of AT&T Wireless,

180-519: A bitmap of blocks not received is included in normal data blocks. Using the PAN field, the receiver may report missing data blocks immediately, rather than waiting to send a dedicated PAN message. A final enhancement is RLC-non persistent mode. With EDGE, the RLC interface could operate in either acknowledged mode, or unacknowledged mode. In unacknowledged mode, there is no retransmission of missing data blocks, so

240-613: A convolutional code of rate 1/3 is used, and puncturing is used to achieve the desired code rate. In contrast to GPRS, the Radio Link Control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) headers and the payload data are coded separately in EGPRS. The headers are coded more robustly than the data. Evolved EDGE , also called EDGE Evolution and 2.875G , is a bolt-on extension to the GSM mobile telephony standard, which improves on EDGE in

300-551: A customer base of 46 million people at the time, making Cingular the largest wireless provider in the United States. AT&T Wireless was then legally renamed New Cingular Wireless Services . Shortly after, new commercials were shown with the "AT&T" transforming into the Cingular logo, and with the Cingular logo's text turned blue to acknowledge the change. Some of the companies that comprised Cingular, such as BellSouth Mobility , ceased to exist when they were legally merged into

360-625: A deal estimated to be worth $ 39 billion in cash and stock. AT&T said the deal was expected to close in 12 months and was subject to regulatory approval. As of June 2011, it was being examined by the FCC. On August 31, 2011, the United States Department of Justice formally announced that it had filed a lawsuit to block the merger. On November 22, 2011, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recommended sending AT&T's proposed T-Mobile acquisition to an administrative law judge for review and

420-563: A hearing. On November 23, 2011, AT&T withdrew its application with the FCC regarding the acquisition of T-Mobile USA. They also indicated that they would recognize a $ 4 billion dollar accounting charge in the event of a deal collapse. That charge covers a $ 3 billion cash breakup fee and $ 1 billion as the market value for the spectrum they were required to transfer to T-Mobile if the deal failed to complete. On August 2, 2012, AT&T announced its intent to acquire NextWave Wireless . On January 22, 2013, AT&T announced its intent to acquire

480-565: A live environment. With the introduction for more advanced wireless technologies like UMTS and LTE, which also focus on a network coverage layer on low frequencies and the upcoming phase-out and shutdown of 2G mobile networks, it is very unlikely that Evolved EDGE will ever see any deployment on live networks. Up to now (as of 2016) there are no commercial networks which support the Evolved EDGE standard (3GPP Rel-7). With Evolved EDGE come three major features designed to reduce latency over

540-558: A new technology not found in GPRS, incremental redundancy , which, instead of retransmitting disturbed packets, sends more redundancy information to be combined in the receiver. This increases the probability of correct decoding. EDGE can carry a bandwidth up to 236 kbit/s (with end-to-end latency of less than 150 ms) for 4 timeslots (theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots) in packet mode. This means it can handle four times as much traffic as standard GPRS. EDGE meets

600-509: A number of ways. Latencies are reduced by lowering the Transmission Time Interval by half (from 20 ms to 10 ms). Bit rates are increased up to 1 Mbit/s peak bandwidth and latencies down to 80 ms using dual carrier, higher symbol rate and higher-order modulation (32QAM and 16QAM instead of 8PSK), and turbo codes to improve error correction. This results in real world downlink speeds of up to 600 kbit/s. Further

660-473: A single corrupt block would cause an entire upper-layer IP packet to be lost. With non-persistent mode, an RLC data block may be retransmitted if it is less than a certain age. Once this time expires, it is considered lost, and subsequent data blocks may then be forwarded to upper layers. Both uplink and downlink throughput is improved by using 16 or 32 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), along with turbo codes and higher symbol rates. A lesser-known version of

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720-509: A software upgrade and a new device compliant with Evolved EDGE (like an Evolved EDGE smartphone ) for the user, these data rates can be boosted to speeds approaching 1 Mbit/s (i.e. 98.6 kbit/s per timeslot for 32QAM). Many service providers may not invest in a completely new technology like 3G networks. Considerable research and development happened throughout the world for this new technology. A successful trial by Nokia Siemens and "one of China's leading operators" has been achieved in

780-466: Is also in the process of rolling out its 5G network based on the NR specification. Cingular, the predecessor to AT&T, supported legacy D-AMPS/TDMA and analog wireless networks. In March 2006, Cingular announced that these networks would be shut down by February 2008. As of March 31, 2007, Cingular ended TDMA supported for GoPhone (pre-paid) customers. On July 15, 2007, AT&T TDMA on 1900 MHz

840-587: Is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States . AT&T Mobility is the third largest wireless carrier in the United States , with 116 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024. The company is headquartered in Brookhaven, Georgia . Originally known as Cingular Wireless (a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth ) from 2000 to 2007,

900-454: Is implemented as a bolt-on enhancement for 2.5G GSM/GPRS networks, making it easier for existing GSM carriers to upgrade to it. EDGE is a superset to GPRS and can function on any network with GPRS deployed on it, provided the carrier implements the necessary upgrade. EDGE requires no hardware or software changes to be made in GSM core networks. EDGE-compatible transceiver units must be installed and

960-476: Is planned through 2023. AT&T plans to cover 200 million people with 5G+ by the end of 2023. During the first quarter of 2006, Telephia reported that during an extensive nationwide test of major wireless carriers in 350 metropolitan markets around the country, Cingular dropped the fewest calls across the country. In turn, Cingular began aggressively advertising the "Allover Network", citing Telephia as "the leading independent research company." Telephia's report

1020-484: Is standardized also by 3GPP as part of the GSM family. A variant, so called Compact-EDGE, was developed for use in a portion of Digital AMPS network spectrum. EDGE is part of ITU 's 3G definition. Evolved EDGE continues in release 7 of the 3GPP standard providing reduced latency and more than doubled performance e.g. to complement High-Speed Packet Access ( HSPA ). Peak bit-rates of up to 1 Mbit/s and typical bit-rates of 400 kbit/s can be expected. EDGE/EGPRS

1080-574: Is the most out of any phone ever sold. These sales propelled AT&T to strong Q2 results. The iPhone 5 was released on September 12, 2012. Apple reported selling 5 million iPhone 5's in the first weekend. AT&T activated 8.5 million iPhones in Q4 of 2012. Radio Link Control Radio Link Control ( RLC ) is a layer 2 Radio Link Protocol used in UMTS , LTE and 5G on the Air interface . This protocol

1140-543: Is the world's largest wireless network test program, initially refused to provide details on its study, and a spokesman for the company has said, according to the Boston Globe , that "Cingular shouldn't have even mentioned the company's name to a reporter." The research company later stated that Cingular did, indeed, have a "statistically significant lower dropped-call rate than the competition across some market/time period groupings", but that Telephia had "no knowledge of

1200-530: The Communications Workers of America . The CWA represented roughly 15,000 of the previous 20,000 formerly AT&T Wireless employees as of early 2006. As of the end of 2009, the CWA website claims that roughly 40,000 workers of AT&T Mobility are represented by the union. Cingular Wireless was founded in 2000 as a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth . The joint venture created

1260-618: The International Telecommunication Union 's requirement for a 3G network, and has been accepted by the ITU as part of the IMT-2000 family of 3G standards. It also enhances the circuit data mode called HSCSD , increasing the data rate of this service. The channel encoding process in GPRS as well as EGPRS/EDGE consists of two steps: first, a cyclic code is used to add parity bits, which are also referred to as

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1320-686: The U.S. Department of Justice , the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and AT&T Mobility's competitors (such as Sprint Corporation ) opposed the move on the grounds that it would substantially reduce competition in the cellular network market. In December 2011, in the face of both governmental and widespread consumer opposition, AT&T withdrew its offer to complete the merger. AT&T currently offers 3 tiers of its Unlimited Your Way plan, AT&T Unlimited Premium® PL, AT&T Unlimited Extra® EL, or AT&T Unlimited Starter® SL. Customers can also choose either

1380-581: The AT&;T Value Plus VL or AT&T 4 GB plans. All plans come with unlimited talk and text, with unlimited data on all except the AT&T 4 GB plan. The higher tier plans include premium data that offers superior service, up to the allotted limit on each line during a bill cycle, plus other features like Mobile Hotspot and more. The AT&T Unlimited Premium® PL plan also includes unlimited talk, text, and data in 20 Latin American countries including

1440-558: The Block Check Sequence, followed by coding with a possibly punctured convolutional code . In GPRS, the Coding Schemes CS-1 to CS-4 specify the number of parity bits generated by the cyclic code and the puncturing rate of the convolutional code. In GPRS Coding Schemes CS-1 through CS-3, the convolutional code is of rate 1/2, i.e. each input bit is converted into two coded bits. In Coding Schemes CS-2 and CS-3,

1500-482: The Cingular Interactive division, which became Velocita Wireless . Velocita was later purchased by Sprint Nextel . AT&T also offered Enhanced Push To Talk (PTT) services on smartphones. The original PTT service was sunset. The AT&T wireless data network began in 2002 as a Cingular initiative called "Project Genesis" that involved a GPRS overlay of the entire wireless network. Project Genesis

1560-540: The Cingular network was transferred to T-Mobile USA, with Cingular continuing work on the GSM facilities at AT&T Wireless sites. AT&T has a global sub-sea Tier-1 fiber network switching facility on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands , in conjunction with University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park . The following is a list of known frequencies that AT&T employs in

1620-484: The Dominican Republic, included at no extra charge. As of January 8, 2016, AT&T no longer offers two-year contracts for subsidized smartphones on consumer accounts. Customers who currently have two-year contracts are grandfathered until they upgrade to a new device, in which case they will have to choose from AT&T's NEXT installment plans for smartphones. Unlimited data plans may be throttled based on

1680-462: The EDGE standard is Enhanced Circuit Switched Data (ECSD), which is circuit switched . The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) states that, as of May 2013, there were 604 GSM/EDGE networks in 213 countries, from a total of 606 mobile network operator commitments in 213 countries. Cingular AT&T Mobility, LLC , also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T ,

1740-412: The FCC gave its final approval. The following month, AT&T announced that it would phase out the Cingular brand across all of its services and replace it with AT&T, with an accompanying advertising campaign branding the combined company as "The New AT&T." Commercials featured the orange Cingular "Jack" logo encircling the AT&T globe logo several times, dragging its blue bars behind it to form

1800-651: The U.S. retail wireless operations of Atlantic Tele-Network , doing business as Alltel , for $ 780 million. On June 24, 2014, Plateau Wireless announced the sale of assets and operations in eastern New Mexico and west Texas to AT&T, including wireless spectrum and 40,000 customers. In November 2014 and January 2015, AT&T acquired the Mexican wireless carriers Iusacell and Nextel Mexico to form AT&T Mexico . On October 9, 2019, Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico's parent company (Liberty Latin America), announced

1860-482: The United States. The following chart lists the networks that AT&T previously operated. As a result of its formation through mergers and acquisitions, as well as the rapid technological change in the wireless industry, AT&T operates the second-largest digital voice and data network within its United States footprint. AT&T's network footprint supports 4G and uses LTE / LTE-Advanced for simultaneous packet switched voice and data communications. AT&T

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution - Misplaced Pages Continue

1920-587: The acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in a $ 1.95 billion deal. The sale was completed on November 2, 2020. In May 2021, the company began promoting AT&T and Liberty as a unified brand. In September 2021, Liberty began phasing out the AT&T brand and introduced a new logo. On February 22, 2024, a massive outage affected customers nationwide. In California , Nevada , Northern New Jersey and New York City , Cingular and T-Mobile USA maintained and shared

1980-496: The air interface. In EDGE, a single RLC data block (ranging from 23 to 148 bytes of data) is transmitted over four frames, using a single time slot. On average, this requires 20 ms for one way transmission. Under the RTTI scheme, one data block is transmitted over two frames in two timeslots, reducing the latency of the air interface to 10 ms. In addition, Reduced Latency also implies support of Piggy-backed ACK / NACK (PAN), in which

2040-419: The base station subsystem needs to be upgraded to support EDGE. If the operator already has this in place, which is often the case today, the network can be upgraded to EDGE by activating an optional software feature. Today EDGE is supported by all major chip vendors for both GSM and WCDMA / HSPA . In addition to Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK), EDGE uses higher-order PSK/8 phase-shift keying (8PSK) for

2100-432: The brand to market to business customers. Cingular president Stan Sigman concurred with BellSouth's position, indicating that the Cingular brand would continue but be sold under the AT&T brand where offered in packages with other AT&T services, such as data and wireline telephony. However, AT&T announced on March 5, 2006, that it would acquire BellSouth. The acquisition was finalized on December 29, 2006, when

2160-513: The company acquired the old AT&T Wireless in 2004; SBC later acquired the original AT&T and adopted its name. Cingular became wholly owned by AT&T in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth. In January 2007, Cingular confirmed it would rebrand itself under the AT&T name. Although the legal corporate name change occurred immediately, for both regulatory and brand-awareness reasons both brands were used in

2220-460: The company's signage and advertising during a transition period. The transition concluded in late June, just prior to the rollout of the Apple iPhone . On March 20, 2011, AT&T Mobility announced its intention to acquire T-Mobile US from Deutsche Telekom for $ 39 billion. If it had received government and regulatory approval, AT&T would have had more than 130 million subscribers. However,

2280-604: The deal, a high-ranking source allegedly close to the sale pointed the Barbados Daily Nation Newspaper towards some SEC filings made by Cingular which were said to establish an idea of the approximate sale price of the deal. According to the SEC filings Cingular was paid around $ 122 million, with much of that cost going towards the purchase of the former AT&T Wireless assets in Barbados by Digicel. At

2340-425: The end of 2006. As of early 2009, AT&T Mobility has completed its upgrade of the 3G to HSUPA , In 2011, it was reported that AT&T would upgrade its network to HSPA+ throughout the year, which it would market as offering 4G -grade speeds. On September 18, 2011, AT&T first launched LTE service in 5 U.S. metropolitan areas, with plans for serving 15 markets by the end of the year. AT&T's LTE rollout

2400-404: The end of the year. On February 22, 2022, AT&T discontinued its 3G UMTS network AT&T operates the second-largest 5G network in the U.S. with approximately 30% of the nation covered. AT&T uses low, mid, and high band frequencies. Mid and high band 5G is marketed as 5G+ and offers much faster speeds than low band. Continuous expansion of the 5G network, especially mid-band 5G+,

2460-412: The first one million original iPhones." In August 2008, Best Buy announced that it would begin selling the iPhone 3G for use on the AT&T network. In September 2008, AT&T announced that it would also sell the iPhone 3G in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The iPhone 4 was released on June 24, 2010. According to Apple, over 1.7 million iPhone 4 units were sold in the first few days, which

Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution - Misplaced Pages Continue

2520-522: The globe's blue stripes, before finally disappearing behind it, being backed by the chorus of the Oasis song " All Around the World ". AT&T added the color orange to its signage to reflect the change; AT&T would eventually remove orange in 2015 following another rebranding related to its acquisition of DirecTV . In November 2007, AT&T acquired Dobson Communications , who owned Cellular One and

2580-560: The importance of not dropping calls. That campaign is continuing." On June 29, 2007, Apple 's iPhone was introduced to the United States market, and AT&T was the exclusive carrier for the device within the United States until February 10, 2011, when the iPhone 4 was launched on the Verizon network. Teething problems with AT&T's billing process emerged soon after the iPhone's release, as early adopters started receiving exceptionally detailed monthly telephone bills with one of

2640-424: The most notable being the 300-page iPhone bill that was featured in an online video by YouTube influencer iJustine . Apple launched the iPhone 3G with AT&T on July 11, 2008. Although specific AT&T sales numbers are unavailable, Apple announced that over 1 million iPhone 3G devices were sold during the first three days — in contrast, according to Steve Jobs , Apple's CEO , "It took 74 days to sell

2700-458: The nation's second-largest carrier. Cingular grew out of a conglomeration of more than 100 companies, including 12 well-known regional companies with Bell roots. The 12 companies included: SBC Wireless had previously operated in several northeast markets under the " Cellular One " brand, while BellSouth's wireless operations incorporated the former Houston Cellular . Cingular's lineage can be traced back to Advanced Mobile Phone Service , which

2760-422: The operating company subsidiary AT&T Wireless PCS , which was New Cingular Wireless PCS . First announced on June 22, 2005, Cingular Wireless announced the intention to divest its Caribbean and Bermuda operations and licenses which it acquired from the acquisition of AT&T Wireless, to Irish -owned and Jamaica -based Digicel Group under undisclosed financial terms. In 2006, one year following

2820-498: The output of the convolutional code is punctured to achieve the desired code rate. In GPRS Coding Scheme CS-4, no convolutional coding is applied. In EGPRS/EDGE, the modulation and coding schemes MCS-1 to MCS-9 take the place of the coding schemes of GPRS, and additionally specify which modulation scheme is used, GMSK or 8PSK. MCS-1 through MCS-4 use GMSK and have performance similar (but not equal) to GPRS, while MCS-5 through MCS-9 use 8PSK. In all EGPRS modulation and coding schemes,

2880-444: The signal quality is improved using dual antennas improving average bit-rates and spectrum efficiency. The main intention of increasing the existing EDGE throughput is that many operators would like to upgrade their existing infrastructure rather than invest on new network infrastructure. Mobile operators have invested billions in GSM networks, many of which are already capable of supporting EDGE data speeds up to 236.8 kbit/s. With

2940-429: The specific methodology (markets, time periods or statistical thresholds) that Cingular used for its 'lowest dropped call' claim." While AT&T has abandoned its verbal claim of "The Fewest Dropped Calls" in its commercials, it continues to show situations where two persons are speaking with each other on their phones, and one of the users' call drops. AT&T now states "We are still continuing to run ads that emphasize

3000-570: The terms of the plan. AT&T also allows existing customers to stay on legacy right plans; however, reserves the right to terminate or require a plan change per its terms of service. Within AT&T's 21-state landline footprint, other AT&T services are offered at the AT&T retail stores, including signing up for home phone, internet, and U-verse . AT&T stores outside of its footprint offer wireless services. All AT&T company-owned stores nationwide sell DirecTV . A large number of AT&T Mobility employees are unionized, belonging to

3060-490: The time of the merger, there were two networks: the historic AT&T Blue Network and the Cingular Orange Network. Both networks contained a mix of both TDMA and GSM facilities. Approximately 50,000 cell sites had to be melded together. From a technical standpoint, the "blue" and "orange" networks were considered different networks until integration was completed in 2005. Enhanced Network Selection (ENS)

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3120-403: The upper five of its nine modulation and coding schemes. EDGE produces a 3-bit word for every change in carrier phase. This effectively triples the gross data rate offered by GSM. EDGE, like GPRS , uses a rate adaptation algorithm that adapts the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) according to the quality of the radio channel, and thus the bit rate and robustness of data transmission. It introduces

3180-549: Was a roaming partner of AT&T, for $ 2.8 billion. The sale added 1.7 million subscribers and expanded AT&T coverage in various suburban and rural markets (including Alaska). On November 7, 2008, AT&T announced its intent to acquire Centennial Wireless for $ 944 million, expanding its coverage in the Midwest, southern U.S., and Puerto Rico. On March 20, 2011, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom announced that AT&T had agreed to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in

3240-804: Was a subsidiary of AT&T created in 1978 to provide cellular service nationwide. AMPS was divided among the Regional Bell Operating Companies as part of the Bell System divestiture . With the exception of Pacific Bell and BellSouth Mobility DCS, the digital network consisted of D-AMPS technology. The Pacific Bell and BellSouth Mobility DCS networks used GSM technology on the PCS frequency band (1900 MHz). In October 2007, AT&T's president and chief executive officer Stan Sigman announced his retirement. Ralph de la Vega , group president-Regional Telecom & Entertainment,

3300-613: Was completed by the end of 2004. Later, this network was upgraded to EDGE across the GSM footprint. In 2005, AT&T launched a broadband network known as "BroadbandConnect", based on UMTS and HSDPA , to counter Verizon Wireless and Sprint 's EV-DO networks. UMTS service was launched on December 6, 2005, in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, San Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Puerto Rico, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and expanded to all major metropolitan markets by

3360-624: Was in stark contrast to the Consumers Union publication, Consumer Reports , based on a survey of 50,000 of its members in 18 cities, which criticized Cingular for static and dropped calls. Furthermore, J.D. Power and Associates consistently ranked Cingular at or near the bottom of every geographical region in its 2006 Wireless Call Quality Study, which is based on a smaller survey of 23,000 wireless users. This campaign had to come to an abrupt end. Telephia, which tests wireless networks by making over 6 million calls per year in what it claims

3420-414: Was named as president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. In February 2004, after a bidding war with Britain's Vodafone Plc (at the time a part-owner of Verizon Wireless), Cingular announced that it would purchase its struggling competitor, AT&T Wireless Services , for $ 41 billion. This was more than twice the company's trading value. The merger was completed on October 26, 2004. The combined company had

3480-637: Was noticeably slower than that of its competitor, Verizon Wireless , with the company stating that its then-proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA would be necessary. In November 2012, AT&T promoted the network as serving 150 million users, with plans to double its coverage by 2014. On January 1, 2017, AT&T discontinued its 2G GSM network. In April 2017, AT&T announced that it would upgrade its existing LTE networks in selected markets to support LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro features, marketed as "5G Evolution" (5G E ). In January 2018, AT&T stated that it intended to deploy 5G NR service by

3540-468: Was retired, while TDMA on 850 MHz remained. On February 18, 2008, AT&T Mobility officially ended service on their AMPS and remaining TDMA network, except for in areas previously operated by Dobson Communications ; the Dobson AMPS and TDMA network was shut down March 1, 2008. Networks formerly operated by AT&T predecessors including Cingular also include various paging services and

3600-481: Was used to home cellular devices on either the "blue" or "orange" network during this process. On November 21, 2005, Ed Whitacre , then CEO of the newly merged SBC/AT&T, announced plans to market Cingular's service under the AT&;T brand. BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher countered that the terms of the joint venture allow either party to sell the service under another name, and that he believes they will be using

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